Essay On The President's Role In Foreign Policy Making

As the chief diplomat of the United States, the president is the dominant force in foreign policy making. The explicit powers of the president that are granted by the Constitution – “chief executive, head of state, Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy” – are all associated with foreign affairs and policy making in different degree (330). The president has the highest power in this nation compared to any other individual citizen. While Congress does play a rather significant role and does use its powers to assert its role in this area, the president still remains as the stronger force. I believe it is important for Congress to play an important on foreign policy making in order to prevent the abuse of presidential power which may cause serious problems for the nation. The powers of the president should be discussed in the first place. As I mentioned earlier,
Even though the president does not have the power to declare war and the commanding power is limited to “Army and Navy”, the powers that he or she usually expand during wartimes. For example, President Lincoln and President Roosevelt have both expanded the power as commander in chief during wars (337). After the 9/11 attack, President George W. Bush declared that because he was the commander in chief, he had the power to make war and take any action that seemed fit to him in order to protect the citizens of the United States (338). The extreme claims of powers by Bush posed a potential threat to the system of balanced powers, however, it also shows how largely the position of commander in chief empowers the president in the area of foreign affairs. On the other hand, the Constitution granted different powers to the Congress that are associated with foreign policy-making to ensure the separation of powers is in